Max Michaels had a big, stinky secret.

It started when she turned eight. As her friends stood around the dining room table, chatting and eating pizza at her eighth birthday party, Max had let out a silent fart. It had only been a small one, but suddenly, the kids around her started to turn green.

A few of them swayed on their feet. Then, slowly but surely, they all passed out.

Max was the only kid left standing.

Max’s mum had walked through the dining room door with a pizza-shaped birthday cake in her hands, decorated with lollies. She took one look at the kids lying down on the floor with their eyes closed, and said, ‘Ooh, I love Dead Fish! You’re all so good at it! Can I play?’

‘I think it was my SBD, Mum.’

‘Your what?’

‘My Silent But Deadly! I swear I didn’t know they could actually be deadly!’

The party ended with twenty kids being rushed away in twenty ambulances.

They all woke up again, and while a few of them chucked on the way to the hospital, they were fine. But it was the last birthday party Max ever had. In fact, it had been the last time Max had anyone over to her house at all.

‘It’s just too dangerous,’ her mum would say in her newly nasal voice, her swimming nose-clip firmly in place. ‘I convinced the other parents it was a bad batch of pizza, but I can’t risk that again, Maxie.’

After the party, Max’s mum had talked about homeschooling, but Max begged her mum not to pull her out of school. Instead, she promised to change schools and stop eating pizza, and said she would never, ever let one rip around other people again.

Up until today, Max’s plan had worked. No one at St Crepitu Primary knew about her eighth birthday party. Max hadn’t had pizza for THREE WHOLE YEARS, and she hadn’t made anyone pass out with her farts. She didn’t have friends at her new school, because she was too worried she might let a fart slip or accidentally tell them her secret. Mum said if the secret of her stinky curse got out, the government might kidnap her and use Max and her farts as a secret weapon in overseas wars.

Max had learned about wars at school; they sucked big time, especially for kids. There was no way she was letting anything like that happen. Still, being at school was better than spending all day, every day at home – at least she had the library.

The library at St Crepitu Primary was safe and quiet. Jerome, the school librarian, made Max the head library monitor. She would shelve the returned books, tidy up the computers and then curl up between the shelves with a good read.

Today, though, Max wasn’t going to the library. For the last few years, Max had managed to avoid temptation on her school’s free pizza day, the most dangerous day of the year. She had promised her mum she wouldn’t eat it again, but pizza was her favourite food, and this year, the delicious smell of tomato, cheese and herbs was calling her to the tuckshop. After all, you could only get one free slice. How bad could it be? If she could find a quiet spot in the playground to eat, away from all the other kids, maybe everything would be okay.

She took her slice of pizza and found a little bench hidden behind a bin under a giant, shady tree.

As she bit into her piping hot slice of Veggie Supreme, feeling a bit nervous about the potentially gassy consequences of artichoke, onion and deliciously greasy cheese, Max could hear a conversation.

‘Give us your pizza, Squirt!’ said a rough, angry voice. ‘We only get one free slice and it’s not enough for a growing girl like me!’

‘I didn’t bring lunch. Please don’t take my pizza!’

This kid’s voice was shaking. They were obviously terrified. Max started to get angry. Who were these bullies? She stood up and tried to peer around the tree without being seen.

‘Well, that’s your problem,’ said another voice. ‘You should have known we’d take it. As if we’d let good pizza go to waste on a weed of a kid like you.’

‘I’m not giving it to you,’ said the small, shaky voice. ‘I’m putting the entire piece in my mouth. See?’

Max was proud of this kid for standing up for themselves, whoever they were. She shoved the last of her pizza into her mouth and strode around to the other side of the tree towards the voices. Two big kids had a small kid with bulging cheeks pinned against the tree trunk. Max recognised him from the other Year Five class at her school: Vincent Ruth. She recognised the bullies too: Jerry and Jessica Payne. Jessica was in Year Six and Jerry was in Year Five, and they were both mean as snakes. She had to do something.

Suddenly, Max’s tummy rumbled.

No, she thought. No, no, no.

It rumbled again, louder.

Jerry saw Max. ‘Who the hell are you?’

Max held her stomach. ‘I’m the person who is going to yell for a teacher if you take Vincent’s pizza,’ said Max.

‘You’ll yell all right,’ said Jessica, smiling as she stepped towards Max.

Max’s stomach rumbled again, even more loudly.

‘Ha-ha,’ Jessica said. ‘Is that your stomach? Jerry, this little baby is so scared she’s given herself an upset tummy!’

Max knew what was brewing, but if she ran off and left Vincent alone, Jessica and Jerry would hurt him. ‘Let Vincent go,’ she said, clenching her cheeks.

‘No way,’ said Jerry. ‘No one stands up to us.’

Max couldn’t hold the fart in any longer. She felt a pang of sadness. Her secret was going to get out, and nothing would ever be the same again.

The fart was long and loud. The entire playground stopped and turned around to see where the noise was coming from. Max felt a few hundred eyes on her as her fart rolled across the playground.

‘What … what’s happening?’ Jessica asked. ‘Is it an earthquake?’ Then she smelled it. Her brother smelled it too. Their noses twitched. The blood drained from their faces. They swayed on their feet.

Max looked at Vincent to see if he was passing out too, but he was standing up perfectly straight, with a massive grin on his face.

‘Are you a superhero?’ said Vincent.

‘More like a supervillain,’ said Max unhappily, as her fart finally came to an end.

All around them, children began to drop like flies. Max and Vincent were the only ones left standing.

‘Oh,’ said Vincent, ‘are they dead?’

‘No,’ said Max. ‘They’ll wake up soon. But I’d better get out of here before I’m kidnapped by the government or the teachers find out. Bye, Vincent.’ Max sadly turned to go.

‘Don’t run away, Max,’ said Vincent. ‘No one will believe it was a giant fart bomb. No one saw it happen. Besides, you stood up to those bullies and saved my skin. You’re a hero.’

Max looked at him.

Vincent was immune to her power and he knew her secret and didn’t think she was weird or gross or dangerous – he thought she was a hero. And maybe he was right. No one had seen what happened. Maybe she could stay after all.

‘You won’t tell anyone about my power?’ asked Max.

‘I won’t ever tell another living soul,’ said Vincent. ‘I might tell my dog Dixie, but she’s buried up the back at our place, under the apple tree. She’s a really good listener.’

Max was filled with joy. ‘Okay. You’re my first friend, Vincent Ruth.’

‘You have a sidekick too if you want one, Fart Girl.’

‘Hey! My name is Max Michaels.’

‘Yeah, but what’s your superhero name?’ Vincent asked.

‘Um … Windy Weather? Or Windbreaker! Or maybe Silent But Deadly,’ said Max, smiling.

‘They’re all cool,’ said Vincent.

‘What’s your sidekick name, then?’ asked Max.

‘Ruthless,’ said Vincent, with a smile.

As Max looked around she noticed that kids were starting to move again. A few sat up, looking confused. Jessica tried to stand up and immediately spewed on Jerry’s shoes. She sat down again. No one seemed to realise what had happened.

‘Shall we head to the library for the rest of lunch?’ asked Max.

‘Sure,’ said Vincent. ‘Hey, aren’t you the head library monitor?’

‘Yep,’ said Max. ‘I love it.’

‘Is there a position open for assistant library monitor? The library could be a good place to talk about superhero stuff.’

Max laughed. She’d never been so happy.

‘So why didn’t you pass out?’ she asked as they walked past the principal’s office, towards the library.

‘I have congenital anosmia,’ said Vincent. ‘I can’t smell anything. I’ll tell you all about it on the way to the library.’

‘Cool,’ said Max. ‘Hey, you want to come over to my house after school? We could have pizza for dinner!’

‘I think you’ve had enough pizza for one day,’ said Vincent. ‘Let’s get fish and chips instead.’